The Forgotten Ones
by Rc1137
Summary: In a galaxy far far away... Two clones bred for war and polar opposites of each other find themselves on the front lines after rigorous training on Kamino. They go through hell and back trying to beat their own fears and doubts trying to lead the Republic to victory. All while trying to discover what they were really fighting for all along...


**The Forgotten Ones**

 **Chapter 1: designation… CT-1147 aka Xanus**

 **Just another day in basic…**

My eyes open once more to a simulation. I hear screams of my squad leader, Knight "Trooper! Eyes front! Wipe that visor clean! We've got droids!" As I heard that, I felt a wave of enjoyment and anxiety as I peer over the xanthium box and pull the trigger. All I could feel was excitement. Yet, I felt terrified, it may have just been a basic test of our ability to work as a team, but I thought of it as life or death. See, us clones aren't given names. Were given numbers. Mine is CT-1147, but my team calls me Xanus. It's funny right, you have one moment that defines who you are forever and there's nothing you can do to change it. They'll always remember when I broke down in sheer terror when I was hit with my first blast of a stun round from a fake droid for crying out loud, but this… this is only the beginning of my tale. I'm a lot more than what you've just heard. CT-1147 signing off.

That simulation was my squad's final practice test before the final test for graduation and my ticket to the frontlines. As we leave the simulation chamber, I'm stopped by our squad leader Knight " Xanus can I speak to you in private " Knight said " Yes Sir! " I replied, " I just wanted to say that your performance today was well beyond mine and the jedi masters expectations and I've put in a request for you to go into officers training"." Sir I.. I don't know what to say", " don't say anything trooper, all we have to do is pull off a clean run in the final sim tomorrow and you should get a spot in officers training Xan." I was overwhelmed, I didn't know how to react to this information. Since the sim was over I was exhausted so I went straight to my pod to get some much needed shut eye. I've got a big day tomorrow.( Blaster noises and cries) I felt a bead of sweat on my forehead. I opened my eyes and all I saw was orange. I wiped my visor off. I look over next to me… my brothers spread across the sand screams of agony. I look over to my right and saw my closest brother,Yank, his left arm was missing. Blaster in his right hand taking scrap out one by one, until one of those dirty clankers landed a shot right into his chest. He falls over not even a sound was made, when Yank was shot just silence all of it was in slow motion all I saw was this orange and smoldering hole in Yanks chest, I could feel the thump when he hit the ground. As I get up I grab my blaster rifle and pour endless amount of rounds into the hordes of droids in front of me, screaming until I awoke in my pod, I said to myself " It was all a dream? ", rushing over to Yanks pod I knock on it just to make sure, " YANK!" I yelled, Rapidly knocking " What? What?! Xan " he says in annoyance "Just wanted to check if you were ok Yank" , "I'm Fine.. can I go back to sleep now" he said as he closed his pod in anger. As I climb over to my pod, all I saw over and over again was Yank falling to the ground, over and over and over again.

I re-awake to my squad leader Knight yelling " Wake up you sorry excuses for troopers! Let's GO GO GO!". " fall in line gentlemen, now this is the final test if you pass you will be named a soldier of the Grand Army of theRepublic and put into your respective positions and battalions, let's go blast some droids boys! Aye how about it" he says in a motivational tone. Everyone in the squad cheered and rushed into their training wears. Today was the day, the day we become the elite troopers of the Grand of the Republic.

 **Chapter 2: Designation… CC- 6686 Reaper**

 **Branded a traitor**

It was another day running the simulator on Kamino, nothing I haven't seen before. I led a squad of six troopers-Foxtrot squad, all of which wanted nothing to do with one another. Our odds were stacked against us from the start. What are we doing fighting someone else's war? The number assigned to me was CT-6686. I was not a good leader, and an even worse teammate. Our mission was a standard search and destroy, or so we thought. None of us expected to be fighting for our very lives that day.

Once we hit the training floor our final simulation stared. The Clock started, we split up three down the right, two down the left, and our heavy down the middle. It started well at first, but then disaster struck. A stray bolt struck Foxtrot 3 in the head taking him down. The bolts in training were suppose to stun us, but this one left a hole in the helmet. I lifted the helmet off of three to find his head has been blown out. They were using live ammunition. As I looked back at horror I couldn't find the words to speak.

Me and Foxtrot 4 both knew we were in trouble. We dragged our fallen comrade to a safe position to regroup. I put out a squad order to immediately take cover, and to keep our heads down. The order had distracted our heavy just enough for him to be gunned down in the center of the training room. Soon after both two and five were killed from sniper fire. Both me and 4 had no idea what to do. Our communications to the observation tower were cut off. We were alone down here with our versions of battle droids closing in on us. We both knew that to survive this we had to complete the mission. We got our heads together and started pushing forward.

Both of us were split, I was on the left and four on the right. We cleared all the way up to the tower. Both me and four regrouped at the base of the platform. A droid that i had missed threw a thermal detonator in our direction. Four immediately pushed me out of the way and threw himself onto the grenade, taking the worst of the blast. I watched in horror as I saw my brother painted across the walls and my armor. After that my memory was hazy, the simulator cameras on the other hand showed a monster out for blood. I had apparently climbed the tower and took out the remaining droid forces and planted the bomb. The mission was complete and the doors were unlocked. I was immediately rushed with police who shot me with stun rounds.

I woke up in a cell restrained to a chair. The officer was screaming at me "Why did you do it! How could you do this to your brothers!" I denied having anything to do with the simulation, but i was shown a hologram of a figure in my armor tampering with the controls on the simulator. I was then told that I was being deployed to Geonosis and if i was to survive I would be Court Martialed and executed for treason. While toiling in my cell waiting for the troops to take me away to the drop ships I heard the security officers call me something. Something that I wish wasn't me, I was The Reaper.

 **Chapter 3: Designation… CC-1147 aka Xanus**

 **Graduation unto the front lines**

My squad and I step onto the elevator down to the final training sim. We were all nervous, you could feel the tension as we descend downwards to the sim. As we reach the bottom orders buzz in through our comms " find and destroy the intel to the clone DNA " every one repeated in sync " yes sir ". Knight yells " Xan and yank flank left and stay together, Dac, Bombshell, and I we'll take the right flank, got it? "I did what I was told me and Yank sprint through ten maybe fifteen droids taking them out with deadly accuracy our backs hit the first piece of cover with such a force the metal started vibrating. "Yank!" I scream, "yes Xan?!" Yank screams back. " I need you to cover me I'm moving up to take out the turret emplacement!" as I start to move. The clanker in the turret nest gets a shot off and hits Dac right in the back of the head. Dac screams in pain, Knight yells "Man down!" I made my decision too slowly and a brother was shot because of this. Stun round or not I failed my team, but I'm not going to let myself down. I snap shot the droid in the turret nest with head shot I tell Yank " I'VE GOT YOU COVERED MOVE UP!" as I pour blue fury down range, Yank moved faster than a ARC-170 star-fighter up to the next piece of cover. There's only four of us left we had to pull ourselves together and finish this mission. Knight said over our com links, "alright boys regroup in the middle" after he drug Dac all the way back to get medical help. As Knight ran back up the middle a stray B-1 battle droid popped out from behind a short wall and shot him right in the back there wasn't anything the rest of us could do. We had to watch our chances of success fall, but we had to press on.

It was all on me to lead this team of three. I bolstered up and said on the comms " Alright just because the lead is down doesn't mean we give up, we are soldiers we persevere! Ok I want a 3 man team down the middle, let's stay together and crush some droids!" Yank and Bombshell to my right and my left, without question followed my orders which increased my confidence by tenfold. There's nothing deadlier than a squad leader with the feeling of unlimited confidence and loyal squad members. Yank, Bomb, and I moved straight up the middle pinging every droid we could. We got to the bunker. We were so close, just inside was a simple breach and clear, then our ticket onto those valiant front lines standing side by side fighting together just like we had all dreamed of. I took point We formed a line parallel to the wall just out side the door, "Breaching" I said in almost a whisper. We rush in clearing out those clankers in sync we take out all ten/. guards inside. Yank grabs the intel and puts it on his belt, we did it we actually did it, me and my brothers pulled the almost impossible off. Yank looks over at me and says " nice job out there Xan you really knocked the scrap out of those clankers today!", Bombshell slightly nodded my way with a big smile and said "I'd have you as lead any day you're a fine soldier Xan". All I could do was smile and think about how I would tell Knight and Dac we made it, we passed. I made my way over to the infirmary, but something was wrong knight wasn't there. I rushed around asking and pleading to the doctors to let me know where he is and one finally told me in a painfully sad tone " when CS-1389 was hit with the stun round he sustained a severe spinal injury CT-1147… I'm sorry CT- 1389 is not fit for combat duty it will take time for his injuries to heal and even then he may not be able to walk ever again".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, after all his hard work he may get tossed aside to become a reject one of the finest soldiers I've seen in training was potentially paralyzed, even after all he'd done to help me secure a commanding position once I got through officers training. After I recollected myself after the news about Knight I went to see Dac. Thankfully he only sustained minor bruising. Dac already knew what happened to Knight, the doctors told Dac that they may be able to give him a chip in his lower back to help him walk again if his injury were to get that devastating. After all this excitement I couldn't help but worry about Knight, "I'm sure he'll be fine" I told myself, but to no avail did he ever recover. Kight was put to sleep after 48 hours in the medical bay, but our lives went on Dac and Yank were put in the 212th clone battalion and earned the new nicknames, Waxer and Boil, Bombshell went to serve in my battalion the 138th and I went off to be trained in advanced battlefield tactics and leadership skills in officers training.

I was given the rank of Captain because of my test scores. Funny enough, I was only a few points off from being in the commander ranking of the testing. So I was named captain of the 138th battalion serving under jedi general Klantus, a hard headed warrior like jedi that believed in fighting beside his clones on the front lines and I already knew we would hit it off. My armor was custom made, Klantus loved the stag so General Klantus gave us officers the option to have our armor custom made and for the most part all of the commanding officers accepted this offer. We wore the razor sharp antlers of the War Stag battalion on both sides of our helmets and we were proud to do so. 3 weeks later were were tasked with fighting on the frontlines of Geonosis. Nothing could have prepared even a jedi from what we were about to embark on. So Klantus, I and the clones of the 138th marched onto the Venerant class jedi cruiser the Leviathan and this, this is where my real story all begins.

 **Chapter 4: Designation… CC-6686 aka Reaper**

 **The Cloner**

As the weeks drag on in my cell I was tormented with the memory of Foxtrot 4 sprayed over my armor. I get the same recurring nightmare night after night. They've became so graphic that when a medical officer tried to restrain me I broke his nose. The Jedi Shaak Ti has visited me many times, too much to count, but not one word has been shared between us. The most recent visit she brought along one of the cloners, the kaminoans, she performed various tests on my head claiming to be a psychiatric test. This kaminoan i've seen before, in the observation tower. She was very vocal with her disappointment of Foxtrot Squad labeling us a bad batch due to our unwillingness to work together. She labeled us overall failures. She said calmly "Now that the Republic has one less group of defectors we can start beginning the track to victory". In a fit of rage I tried to stand up, but my restraints kept me in the chair. With my movement impaired I spit on the foot of the cloner. She replied "You are nothing more than a product. Once used, are destroyed, we will replace you with a far more superior trooper". In a fit of rage I tried to stand up, but my restraints kept me in the chair. With my movement impaired I spit on the foot of the cloner. She replied "You are nothing more than a product. Once used, you will be destroyed. We will replace you with a far more superior trooper". I tried to muster up that same energy to rip through the binders, However I felt a surprising calm.

General Shaak TI was to the side of the room one hand raised eyes closed. I always thought deep down that If my brothers wouldn't believe me a jedi will. The general walked over to that bitch of a cloner and whispered something into her ear. They both left the room and left me to toil in my cell awaiting the for my executioners to take me to the god forsaken planet that is Geonosis.

A week later, before the troops deploy for Geonosis, Shaak TI was alone in her quarters in deep meditation. Her eyes had suddenly flashed open and checked the footage of Foxtrot Squads signing into the armory. There was a Flash of Blue and showed CT-6686 punching in numbers on a control pad to get his weapon. The Jedi recognizing the movements as oddly familiar pulled up the "so called" evidence of CT-6686 sabotaging the simulator. Both Holograms showed identical movements of CT-6686. Taking the previous evidence she had taken it to a officer in the command center to have it analyzed.

She arrived at the command center and ordered the officer to check the officer inserted the drive into the console. Immediately the officer new something was off he said "This hologram was overlayed with different footage it was edited to look like someone was punching in codes". The Jedi asked the officer to remove the edited footage to reveal the original. Once done the image of a clone in training armor disappeared and a long necked figure took his place. It was clear as day that it was none other than a kaminoan, a cloner.

It was that same cloner who gave CT-6686 the psychiatric scan. Baffled by the deception the Jedi along with clone security had raided the Kaminoan's quarters. Lightsaber drawn she arrested the cloner. She was taken to a cell for questioning. She confessed to the annihilation of Foxtrot Squad, and claims to have done it because "the Republic doesn't have need for failures". With the confession she returned to the cell of CT-6686. Once there she had found it empty, confused by this she asked the guard where the trooper was taken. He replied "The Reaper has been taken to his execution on Geonosis. Desperate to save a falsely accused soldier, she raced down the hall onto the loading bay only to be too late.

That Jedi has done more for me than my brothers have ever done only second to Foxtrot 4. Two guards were to transfer me to the abyss where I was to be put into another cell to wait for the invasion. I was led through halls of white walls onto the loading platform. Funny how I imagined being in line with my brothers to do what we were bred to do, now I'm being led into battle in binders. I was told I was to be watched under General Wolf, a jedi to where if I wasn't in such a shit situation I would have probably gotten along with pretty well. I turn around to have one last look at my home. On the landing pad I saw the jedi that never spoke I knew the look on her face meant she knew the truth, but it was too late for that now. I had to go face my death like a man. CT-6686 Reaper signing off.

 **Chapter 5: designation: CC-1147 aka Xanus**

 **Dust and Blood**

As General Klantus and I stepped inside the Leviathan for the first time it was exhilarating to walk the halls of such a destructive weapon. "So Commander what should I call you" Klantus said, " Call me Xanus sir, if that is okay with you sir!" I said, Kalntus chuckled " At ease Xanus I want you to be comfortable, I won't treat you like your just a gun, if we are to serve together until one of us meets our end. I'd like us to be equals maybe even friends" Klantus said with a caring tone. There was something about serving with a jedi that was calming. It's almost like he can sense my emotions which felt odd, but I tried to ignore it. I clear my throat " I appreciate that General Klantus, but with all do respect sir I am a soldier you are my commanding officer and I would like for us to head to the war room to discuss our plan of attack for the battle over Geonosis" I said with a nervous tone. " I agree Xanus, after you " Klantus said. We walked down the hallway to straight to the War room. As we enter the war room there were two of my men standing to the left and right saluting me and General Klantus. As I turned on the the holo projector I immediately started talking about how we would blast through the Separatist blockade over Geonosis. "Sir we have more than enough forces to break through this blockade, the Separatist fleet consists of only one capital ship and four small frigates and 100 droid fighters in total" I said with overwhelming confidence in our chances to win the battle over Geonosis. " Our ship will be flanking up the right side of the Separatist fleet while General Erins cruiser will go right up the middle focusing the main Separatist capital ship and General Wolf's ship will flank left and occupy them while General Erin focuses on destroying the big bucket of bolts" I explained in excruciating detail. The General agreed on the plan of attack, but the battle over geonosis wouldn't be so easy. For the first time I was wrong about the chances of a Republic victory and it cost the 138th a lot of good men.

The leviathan shot into hyperspace, all I could think about was how this battle was going to turn out I couldn't help but feel nervous for the events to come. It took one standard hour to travel to Geonosis and as the leviathan sped out of hyperspace we automatically started taking forward battery fire " Blasted droids! " I said with hate in my voice. I yelled to my men in the bridge " Alright let's scrap those over sized tinny boys " our ship was taking so much blaster fire it was like a continuous vibration, I look to my left Klantus yelled towards me " I'm going to help our boys in the field, tell the admiral to give the order and launch our fighters before were overwhelmed! " I rushed to Admiral Venison " Admiral give the fighter attack order! ", " I already have captain, in a position like mine you're always one step ahead of even your own your own side of the battle " the Admiral said with over confidence. " Klantus? " the Admiral said over comms, "yes Admiral?!", "try and push through the enemy fighters and form a defensive formation around our bombers and make an attack run onto the enemy shields!" All I could see were explosions and brothers dying. There wasn't a single thing i could do to save them I had to sit and watch while the 138th fought for their lives. Klantus chimed into the comms " Admiral we lost half of our fighters but we've destroyed the frigate's shields, we are making our was back to re arm these bombers ", "Very good Genera!" the Admiral shot back with overwhelming joy. And the general and the War Stags sure as hell lit that frigate up like a hundred fuel cells going off in a dark room it was a sight to behold, but losing half of our fighters didn't bode well for our side of the battle soon we would not be able to hold the left flank with only half of our fighters we had to finish this battle quickly or our line would fall.

Our forward cannons continued to bombard the two frigates in front of the leviathan and split those tin cans in half like a lightsaber through a clankers torso. As the battle raged on Me and my battalion prepared for the ground assault and escort jedi master Yoda to the separatist base and kill as many geonosian Overseers' as possible . On the opposite side of the planet the other ground assault will be led my Masters Kenobi and skywalker they're mission is to destroy docked separatist battle stations. My battalion will hit the droid forces head on in the vanguard lines while Commander ions will hit the Clankers from the left flank and Commander Reapers will hit them from the right with the jedi leading the charge. My mind went into a frozen state thinking about how many of my men would perish at my command all i could remember was black then a red light the LAAT gunships full of the 138th took off, the pilot of my gunship said something to boost the troops moral " Hello? Hello? Is this thing on, Alright gentlemen have fun on the ground scrap some droids for us in the sky!" The gunship roared with joyful and confident cheers. The gun ship went dark you could feel the battery fire being shot at our convoy all around us were a plethora of gunships many being shot down by tinny fire. The screams over the comm channel were terrifying, but a good amount of the 138th battalion made it through which calmed my nerves.

The gunship pilot buzzed in " Alright were setting down eta 2 minutes! " Our gunship came under heavy flak the tension grew and grew, until the green light blinked on " GO GO GO! "

I yelled at my men in the gun ship we sprinted through kicked up orange dust out into the unimaginable, Just lines and lines of battle droids as far as the eye could see. A wave of excitement hit me as I realize this is what Knight always dreamt of so we did right by Knight I downed four droids in rapid succession. My men beside me unloading blaster fire into those clankers, it was like watching dominos fall. One by one we scraped those innate droids we downed the first wave of them in 7 minutes. I ordered my men to move up and cover General Wolf's Battalion. As we hit the randomly places sand extrusions we used them as cover to pour fire into General Wolfs flank to cut down the tinnies that were in his way. It was really a sight to behold the amount of white moving in an orderly fashion so organized yet cause so much destruction the 700th battalion dealt was beautiful, so I decided to make a hard push down the middle I shouted my commands into the comm link "PUSH THE DROIDS BACK TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE AT-TE'S LADS!" As I started moving up beside my most trust worthy brother Yank. There was something about yank that made me feel secure almost unstoppable. We cut through what it seemed like endless amount of battle droids, until the next wave of droids. These were not just any droids these were mk1 super battle droids equipped with dual blaster cannons on the droids right arms.

I won't forget the amount of fire we took on the center line. I won't forget the cries for help. The sound of my men hitting the ground with what sounded like the force of a thermal detonator explosion over and over and over again. Most of all, I'll never forget how I lost my cool and snapped. I called an immediate retreat back to the rocky extrusions for cover. I yelled to the communications expert "Call our gun ships for air support we need evac NOW!", but just as The comms specialist hit the button on his wrist. I saw what you would call the calvary. The side of a custom LAAT gunship with the proud 138th battalion Stag decal gleamed in the geonosian sun like a beacon of hope. I instantaneously snapped out of my selfishness of my actions and all I heard in my head was General Klantuses words rung in my ear, "Do not be afraid commander, fear leads to self doubt and self doubt leads to the death of others in a situation of this caliber" I'll never forget those words of wisdom. It made me feel and even stronger connection to each other it made me consider my general a brother clone or not. As the custom gun ship landed along with many others by its side and hundreds of my troops protruded out of their assigned ship. Klantus said in excitement and almost a jokey tone " Captain? What are you doing all the way back here there are droids to make scrap out of", I laughed and nodded and gave the order to charge my men head on into the fray. The battle cries of my brothers was rejuvenating and with General Klantus by my side and Yank I felt unstoppable once again my battalions rejoins the battle with overwhelming amounts of fury and vigor some of my men even get into melee range and gunned down supers at point blank range, ripping them to shreds. One by one those tin cans fell, but what caught my eye was the destruction that General Klantus it was very fluid and gracious, cutting through droids. One,two,three, the number of supers he was cutting down seemed almost endless.

To the far right of me was this clone. This clone was alone in the middle of the right flank standing in one place almost like he was frozen. Did this trooper have a death wish? I thought almost worried about his mental state. The other thing I noticed that was interesting was the amount of bugs he was hitting with just side arms, his accuracy looked unrivaled to even the best shot in my battalion, but I couldn't focus on his position for long, another wave of droids filled the two other platoons we had cut down just a few moments before at that moment I realized this battle wasn't going to end with only a handle full of clone sacrifices. It was going to end in a bloody mess.

 **Chapter 6: Designation… CC-6686 aka Reaper**

 **Meeting the Natives**

The brig on the abyss was a lot different from my usual holding cell on Kamino. As fate would have it multiple troopers accompanied a clone officer with an extra set of armor and armor modifications. They tell me it was a gesture from the general saying that if i was to die today then i should decide what i die in. I asked for a kama to protect my legs and Macrobinoculars for my helmet. After customization was done I was given the "rules" to my execution. I was to be ten feet in front of the battalion, I was not allowed to take steps back, nor was I able to take cover from enemy fire. Once the rules were read i was given the plans to the invasion.

It was obvious that this was unfair, but I didn't have the stomach to express it. The officers left me to myself and my armor. They left black paint with the intent that I would mark the armor so that they could identify my body. The same word kept repeating in my head "Reaper". I marked the chest piece by putting down the very thing I was afraid to be. On my right shoulder i painted a four with a scythe next to it to remember the one selfless act that had occurred in Foxtrot Squad. A black stripe went down the middle of my helmet and continued onto my torso.

I gazed into the vizor of my helmet thinking of how things can't get worse. Red lights suddenly started to flash and the voice over the intercom ordering the troops to their battle stations. Two troopers told me to step to the corner of the cell and suit up. The troopers put me binders, walking through the halls of the abyss I didn't have a sinking feeling that people would expect, but a hunger was growing. Once we boarded the dropship I was met with glares. I didn't think anything of it, I in fact started to chuckle. I was given two blaster pistols to hold in my cama, each only held 50 shots each with no reload so once I'm out I'm on my own. The gunship began to lift off into space. I couldn't see what was going outside the ship but i could hear the chaos ensuing above the planet. Explosion after explosion could be heard outside, some boys started to flinch one actually took his helmet off to throw up. Me I was content, I felt right at home.

There was a sudden shift in pressure when we entered the atmosphere. The Gunships doors started to open. We were still in flight, but I could see the heat of battle from where i was standing. I could smell the fuel burning from a Geonosian plane that was shot down, it fueled me to start jumping in place. Everywhere tanks were exploding, Spider Droids were unleashing heavy fire power into the troops below, all i could do was watch anxiously. The Gunship next to us was suppose to be carrying our general, Jedi Tarrius, but the only one who looked even remotely close was a clone in robes. His gunship took a direct shot to the hull and was immediately engulfed in flames. No one could have survived that, but sure enough the robed clone jumped through the flames with what looked to be two lightsabers in hand landing in our own gunship. He removed his helmet to reveal that he wasn't a clone but a young human male. I thought that this couldn't be the general who was in charge of me he couldn't have looked more than 17 years old. He told me to "Stay out of the way and maybe you will survive this!"

After a few minutes of silence, we had a run in with the natives. The Geonosians are bug like winged creatures, incredibly hostile. They swarmed the ship and we were forced to make an early landing. On the way down several troopers were stolen out of the ship to be taken off to god knows where to face god knows what. We had finally hit the ground the remaining forces lept out and took defensive positions against the bugs. I on the other hand didn't want to be shot, so I ran full sprint to find the nearest bug. I charged the closest one and smashed his head in. I pulled out both pistols and started firing shots into the surrounding swarm. One by one bugs were falling faster than i could count. To conserve ammo I took one of the geonosian weapons on the ground. It wasn't as complicated as I thought to operate it. More and more fell, I was bathing in the guts of bugs. The scene was enough to stop firing on both sides. All eyes were on me. I looked to the nearest geonosian and took a step forward. They all stepped back. I Broke into a full sprint to grab the closest one. I Broke the closest ones neck and shot the one closest to him four times. The bugs finally got the idea to retreat.

Now that The natives were torn through. The droid forces were now left. I picked my pistols back up and began a second charge. Before I took my third step a flash of blue appeared. The General had taken the offensive and to avoid being shot again i sprinted faster. I saw the general take on the opposing droids head on, so I decided to join in on the fun. The general and I were standing side by side, brothers in arms. I unleashed my remaining blaster fire into the droid forces. The general was spinning in the air cutting down as many as he could on his descent back to the ground. Everything started to become hazy again like in the simulator room. We had won the battle. I didn't know wether to be excited that we won or to be in fear to what will await me. I beat all odds against me and now i have to face what's coming next. Either way I won.

 **Chapter 7: Designation… CC-6686, aka Reaper**

 **A Monster's Worth**

After the battle we all knew what was coming next, only no one had the stomach to speak. Once the area was cleared of droids reinforcements started to arrive. News was sent to the battlefield that the Republic had blasted through the blockade. New troops were stunned with the look of the 700th battalion. We all looked like we've been through hell and back and back in again. I was sent to a gunship to await my send off. I heard talk outside of a firing squad being gathered, I also heard certain doubts of this order. Even General Tarrius had doubts that this was right. Just before I was put in prison for the last time the general and I had a brief discussion on the battle. He said that he has never seen a warrior so ferocious and so fearless in the face of death. He gave me praise for serving the Republic in my final hours, but I saw sadness in his face. He shouldn't have a reason to be sad for a trooper be killed. He told me of his apologies and left he didn't ask me for my name or number, He only looked at my chest piece and saw the black skull.

Once it was time I was lead out of the gunship and lead far away from the camp to a large rock formation. One we arrived at the point the General and other officers were present along with three ARC troopers loading DC-15 blaster rifles. I was put against a wall and asked if i would like to be blind folded. I respectfully declined and replied I prefer to look the men who are going to do it in the eyes. The Arc troopers even looked hesitant. It was obvious they didn't want to put me down, but orders are orders and to us clones that's all we have.

One officer blew a whistle, signaling the troopers to get ready. The ARCs stood up and help their rifles in their right hand. They choose to keep their helmets in hopes to lessen the guilt of what they were about to do. The Officer raised his hand to signal the troopers to aim, but none were looking at me. As the officer was about to let his hand down for the troops to fire, but the general the boy who had his whole life and career in front of him decided to stand beside me. The troops pulled up their rifles. The general said that if heroic actions on the battlefield are met with blaster fire from the very troops he fought against, then I might as well be shot too. An argument broke out between the officers and general which only resolved with the general pulling out a hologram of what looked to be like Jedi Shaak Ti. It was a message for Tarrius to inform him to stop my execution. Who would've thought during those countless days in the kamino holding cells sharing my time with Shaak Ti would pay off. Everyone was stunned to hear the words of the jedi, and it brought me great pleasure to hear that it was that cloner.

The clone officer released me from my binders. It was funny, those weeks being locked up started to feel like home. After all the excitement passed the general stayed behind to exchange a few words. He told me again that he was extremely impressed with my courage on the battlefield. He said that he hadn't had a good solid change of command in his battalion and in fact promoted me. For his reason he told me that I bring up morale in battle by charging straight to the enemy. I argued that I thought I was dead man out there. However he was quite insistent that I would be the commander of the 700th battalion. When He took his leave I stopped him and asked him why he held off on the message so late. To which he replied "dramatic effect" he smiled and walked away. I didn't know whether to sucker punch him or salute the man. The battalion went on to take my symbol and stripes. Now the whole galaxy knows to fear the 700th battalion. The boys on geonosis started to call the battalion Ghoul Company. Knowing that behind the Ghouls the Reaper is close behind.

 **Chapter 8: Designation… CC-1147, aka Xanus**

 **The Ringing**

The battle seemed as if it were endless, so many good soldiers falling beside me left and right. General Klantus directly ahead waved to charge, A clone sergeant behind yelled to his squad "MAKE THEM EAT HEAT TROOPERS!" and proceeded to unleash blue hell fire to the droids directly in front of us. I asked for his name " what's your name trooper?! ", " They call me Cleanse sir" he said. " Well Cleanse I'm glad to have you on my side of the battle ". " Same to you commander! " as he charged up to a droid and unloaded lord knows how many blaster rounds into that things chest. General Klantus gave the order to move forward the 213th needed support to get there battalion moving to flank the droid army from the left side. I of course respond to his order immediately "Alright 138th, it's time to move up and show those clankers the fury of the Republic", Yank responded almost immediately "They won't be seeing it for long Xan!" After that push we had to stand our ground and wait for orders from the General. The amount of metal on the ground was absurd, I couldn't take a step on the ground without stepping in steaming droid or oil. I said to Yank "ugh I hate droids even when there scrapped" Yank chuckled and nodded then waved his platoon forward. I called to General Klantus over my comm link "Sir what would you have us do?", the General answered me almost immediately "I want Two platoons on me pushing forward and The rest heading to the left flank hit them hard with everything we've got Captain!" I did as I was told.

I gave the order to the rest of my men that were left under my command, Yank was tasked with covering the general so he could push through and make way for the other battalions to infiltrate the droid factory. "Cleanse can you read me?! I need your squad to complete a specific task" I said in a hurry. " What is it sir? You need me to scrap some droids?", " Something like that, do you see those destroyer droids? I want your men to take them out, it's the only thing standing in our way to get to the other side to give General Erin the cover she needs!" Cleanse happily obliged to the command. I gave cleanse all the cover he needed unloading every round I had into the cannon fodder that were the B1 battle droids. When I had a second I pulled out my binoculars. I spotted Sergeant cleanse making his way through the red beams of light with ease him and his men took those destroyers out with impeccable team work cleanse drew the destroyers fire, Tank and Reht rolled little balls of death under the bastards and boom they flew higher than two fuel cells after they've been shot and left to build up pressure. Now that the complication was removed I ordered a full frontal assault on the right flank of Erin's lot of clankers It was a slaughter filled with blue fire streaming across the battlefield and droids being dismembered even seeing some of my own men being torn apart by enemy hell fire. General Klantus buzzed my Comm link " Captain we've done what we can for the 700th and the 213th it's time to push through the finish line and take the middle and set of a defensive perimeter!" After the general said that I gave the order then a proton missile came from up on the ridge " FIND COVER!" I said, but it was too late the missile hit right smack into the middle of our lines hitting me and many others everything went black when. I awoke to the general covering my ass from fire as two medics dragged me to the beaten up defensive perimeter my men had constructed obviously poorly.

"What happened?" I said in a daze. " you were almost hit with a Proton missile sir!". I could barely hear him most of what I heard was just jumbled together muffled words. Sound started to come back, it felt like what i imagine being hit with a round from a tank gun. Once it all came back to me I shook off the medics and picked up my DC-15 and started taking the droids that were left. We had succeeded in pushing the separatist forces back into there base. After a while we bolstered our poorly constructed defensive outpost to hold off against any droid counter attacks. General Klantus buzzed my comm link "Captain, that was an amazing performance you put on today!", "I could say the same to you sir", " Are you feeling alright captain you took a pretty nasty hit earlier", " I'm perfectly ok sir, just a few bruises and scuffed armor", "Fantastic because we are set of skills are needed elsewhere", " no rest for the wicked I suppose?", "I guess not captain report to my personal gunship effective immediately we leave for Felucia to infiltrate a separatist base holding vital information of the location of many droid factories scattered across the outer rim", "Yes Sir."

The battle of geonosis took a heavy toll on my men the body count was somewhere over 400 brothers and we lost a lot more than we gained in my opinion. This was the first time I questioned my duty, but i quickly expelled it though as it was treason, but Geonosis took a part of my sanity that day. Something I'll never get back.

 **Chapter 9: Designation… CC-6686 aka Reaper**

 **Trading Sand for Mud**

The Battle of Geonosis was the first victory in a seemingly endless war. After most of the fighting we were picking off the remaining droids and bugs. My favorite part was clearing out caves with the flame troopers. Those boys made those insects look like charcoal. When the job was done we were all rounded up and put back on the gunships to Coruscant to wait for our next mission. When we arrived it was strange. Half the people met us with open arms and the other half welcomed us with hate signs and protests. The ARCs paid no attention to it, but I did. I broke off the march and took one men with me. While they were screaming at us i took off the troopers helmet to reveal a missing eye and burnt face. I showed them the horrors of what happened on that godforsaken planet. General Tarrius pulled me away and told me "they got the message now get back in line." After the little outburst I had we were met with shinies, brand new soldiers. All of them were all stuck up. The sergeants were not happy with training new soldiers just for them to die the next day.

General Tarrius decided that i should meet the troops some other time. He requested that I accompany him down to the lower levels of the city. We both walked in robes to hide our identities from the Coruscant Guard. We walked through a maze of scum and filth to end up at an apartment complex. As we walked up I kept a hand on my pistol. We stopped at a door. Tarrius punched in a few Numbers on the keypad and the door slid open. Inside was a female twi'lek. Her skin was a light blue and had brown eyes. She couldn't have looked any much older than the general. She greeted him with a kiss and a long hug. Tarrius turned to me and said this is my wife Karla. There was a full tray of food on the table which the general told me that I was a dinner guest. Claiming that I would not have come if i was given a formal invitation.

It was an honor to sit by the man who was so fierce in battle. He was very insistent that no one knows about their relationship fearing that he would be expelled from the Jedi Order. I agree to keep her a secret for both our sakes. We talked about how they met and how I was almost executed. War Stories did not go over well with Karla. She was quite the pacifist and it pained her to see her husband go off to war. Near the end of dinner Tarrius received the orders for our mission. His face sank and cloud started to form over his head. I asked him what was wrong. He replied "we're going to be going to the Outer Rim". I said "That's not the worst part is it?' he shook his head no. "Were going to Felucia". I leaned back astonished. Why? "The separatists have started to conquer worlds in the Outer Rim." I told the general that this is suicide. He tried to comfort me by telling me that we were to alongside famed jedi Aayla Secura. I told him that they're going to need more body bags.

Karla was stricken with grief when we left. I pitied her. She has no idea if her husband will be alive the next day. When we arrived back the troops were all ready to move out. I didn't have the heart to tell them where we were going, it would have just made it worst. I entered the bridge of the Abyss to deliver the information on our landing coordinates. Tarrius was talking to the two other jedi from Geonosis, I believed they called themselves Klantus and Erin. They had looks of sorrow as if they lost someone close. The general told me its time. I nodded and turned to the intercom. Throughout the ship my voice was heard and silence washed over the ship. "Our next mission is to retake Felucia."

 **Chapter 10: Designation… CC-1147 aka Xanus**

 **R and R…**

"Commander?" a trooper called from across the hangar. My head felt like it was being crushed between two relentless rocks. Pound, pound, and pound it never stopped. I could barely hear, all i could see was orange and holes in my men the men I was meant to protect. "Commander!?". "What?, oh Yank hey brother was your ride back smooth?". "Yes sir!". " Cut it with the Sir we've known eachother since we were kids yank, from know on you refer to me as Xan". "Alright, alright brother… I do have some daunting news Xan, General Klantus has just been ordered to orbit over Felucia in preparation for an invasion that will be taking place". Yank saw the look on my face. I felt dead inside, I felt no emotion all that was on my mind was the mission. "Yank you're dismissed go get cleaned up and catch some shut eye, thats an order trooper and tell the other troops to do the same". I started my walk to the mess hall I can't tell you how hungry I was after that mess. Making my way to get some supper I passed by the med bay. My heart started to race as i saw the look of my brothers in agonizing pain. My mind started racing with self doubt. I could have led these men safely, but I was to afraid to believe in my ability to command that i broke and lost my control over the situation and my men suffered for my mistake! I threw my Helmet at the wall in anger and screamed and started to see things. The battle it was so vivid it felt so real I drew my blaster pistols and started shooting the blast door without hesitation thinking they were droids. Everyone in the med bay heared the blaster shots. "Commander?!" said one of my men holding me down while others joined him in trying to calm me down, while I just kept shouting I'm sorry over and over and over again until I eventually faded and blacked out.

My head was pounding, almost worse than being hit in the head back in basic with a stun round. Next to me were Yank and Klantus patiently waiting for me to wake up.

" Hey brother…" Yank said in a calm soothing voice.

" What happened?!" I started rapidly moving ,but I was bound to the medical bed.

"You gave everyone quite the scare commander we thought you were a defective trooper, but turns out you just had a severe panic attack, which means after a few hours of rest you should be combat ready Commander".

"Yea Xan you gave the men and the general quite the scare " Yank chuckled excitedly.

" Come sargent Yank we have preparation to do we must gather the other battalions officers to plan the attack." Klantus said in a stern tone.

" Yes Sir! See you in a few hours brother! Let's move it Ladies! " Yank yelled as he put his Helmet back on and walked out with Klantus and the men.

After the bindings were released, I rushed to my quarters to pack some plasma for those rust buckets on Felucia.

 **Chapter 11: Designation… CC-6686 aka Reaper**

 **A Deserter and a Madman**

In my quarters on the Abyss I was awaiting a nightmare planet. I would've preferred Dathomir. At least I would be killed by something who wasn't wallowing in the mud. Orders are orders I guess. The general had now ordered the soldiers to the gunships for the landing. The plan was to meet up with general Klantus and commander Xanus, from what i heard the commander had a break down after the invasion of Geonosis. Hearing that I thought I wasn't the most messed up trooper out there.

When we got to the gunships everyone was silent, there was a understanding in the gunship that not all of us would make it back. There are so many ways to die down there. Some of the troops actually betted how they would go out. The new shinies were anxious and terrified. You would think the human body wouldn't produce that much vomit, but you would be wrong.

Once we arrived at the drop point I caught up with the general. He had already detached five squads to secure the area. I asked him "What do you think their chances are for coming back." The general told me "Shut up". Not much later we had met up with general Klantus and the famous commander. Klantus looked at me and said "You are the most remarkable warrior I have seen besides for myself of course. All jokes aside you were really something I never knew that kind of ferocity in a soldier. I replied "Thank you sir". The commander just looked at me, just an endless stare. I told him "I don't bite commander". General Tarrius had responded for the commander "Cool it trooper". I lightened up a bit on the commander for the rest of the day.

Night came in soon. From what time we had we were barely able to set up camp. With what camp we had we might as well just slept in the gunships. All of a sudden we heard a scream and not soon after blaster fire. I came out to see huge Acklay tearing us apart left and right. I grabbed my pistols and started firing bolt after bolt. I jumped onto the back of one of the beasts and started firing bolts into the back of its head. When the beast fell I saw Xanus started to freeze up. I for whatever reason started to get angry. I walked over so casually even if we were in a hostile zone. I grabbed his shoulder, took of his helmet, and started to beat so sense into him. "Get your shit together man! We were fucking trained for it. Either use that blaster or get your ass back to the looked like he got some sense back into him. He started to fire into those insects like a furious storm of rage and skill.

"Karnage did you see the one that jumped onto the back of our pet". "Yes I did that was quite interesting, I knew they were suppose to be badass, but i never expected this. If you see him on his own grab him and bring him to the compound alive we need to have a chat." "Yes boss".

The next morning we dealt with the bodies. The General was not happy with me the way I handled the situation with Xanus, so he put me on patrol for the first shift. Me and a couple of shines headed out, our route was to cover a two mile radius around the base camp. We were walking through the thick jungle when one of the shines screamed. I kept all of the other shines from going trigger happy. We slowly walked to the troopers location to discover he triggered a trap. I told all of the troops to hang back while I dealt with the injured. Hiss leg was broken, almost snapped in half. Whatever put this here was definitely still with us. All of a sudden a stun bolt hit me in the back and I was rendered unconscious.

When I was coming to I heard a strange but familiar voice.

"Please tell me you didn't kill him"

"No boss he is still alive and well"

"What about his men?"

"All accounted for except the one that got in the trap had to put him down."

"I told you to do one fucking job. What is my one and only rule?"

"Don't fuck it up?"

"That is right don't fuck it up. Now take the bag off his head were not savages."

I woke up to see a clone sitting on a wooden bench in front of me.

"Hello hello. Now I know what you're thinking, yes I am a clone, yes you're not dead, and yes you are a prisoner, but it's not all bad. You could be dead. Now cards on the table I am a deserter, but I have been looking into facial reconstruction, so us looking the same won't be an issue…. O where are my manner my "Number" is CT-13289, but the boys around here call me karnage for some reason. What is your name or number or whatever the fuck you're called?"

"I am called Reaper"

"What a fitting name for a badass. Now I'm not to happy with shooting up my pets last night, not cool it was their dinner.?

"..."

"Excuse me Karnage"

"What is it?"

"Well more of the men have died trying to get more Acklay"

There was a sudden shift in this man.

"What is my only rule?" he said with a smile, he stabbed this man while screaming "DON'T FUCK IT UP… Lin lin get this shit out of my office. "I'm sorry you had to see this, so embarrassing."

"Where are my men Karnage"

"Reaper calm down you will see them at dinner no problem they will all be there. In fact let's go see them right now"

I was lead through a long corridor into a bright room.

"Here we are all of our brothers are here."

All of them were sitting in chairs being restrained and gagged.

" Lets sit down and join them, shall we"

We sat down to plates of grotesque food. I had no idea what this was.

"What is this?"

"Try a bite and find out." he pulled out a blaster and held it to my temple 'I insist".

I took a bite and immediately threw up in my mouth

"There now what is this and were missing one of my men where is he, he is injured and needs medical attention"

"Don't worry he is here and In my opinion after meeting him he left a bad aftertaste"

I was struck with horror as to the realization that I was eating my friend.

"Now I know the chef here isn't the greatest, but it's impolite to not eat your food."

He held the blaster to the head of one of my men

"Eat...your….food"

I had to start eating to save the rest of my brothers. I took one bite after another. On the third he killed one. I took another bite he pulled the trigger again to the second trooper. It happened over and over till we were the only two alive.

"I must admit you have shown me quite a lot about yourself."

"You monster."

"No you are the monster, I scanned the code on your arm. You killed your brothers just like I did we are one in the same you and I. Now i want you to join me. I know you might be cross with me with that whole me feeding you your friend and everything, but there is a silver lining to all of this. You're not the most fucked up."

 **Chapter 12: Designation... CC-1147 aka Xanus**

 **Landing Party**

General Klantus Knocked on my quarters door "Commander are you ready?" I immediately replied " Yes Sir!" I said with a smirk. " Alright Commander then get a move on I want you on the ground in 20 minutes " Klantus said almost issuing a challenge. Little did he know I already gathered my gear together. I caught up with yank and his men, Emerald squad. "Yank!" I said.

" Xan! Are you ready to make some scrap metal down there sir! " Yank said. " You Know it brother." I, Yank and Emerald squadron which had included the hothead named Heat a good soldier he was, but something didn't make sense a Commando clone was among his squad. "Trooper what's your story, why are you not with the special forces division you are supposed to be on the ground already" I said.

" My squad or known as theta squad was wiped out during an operation on Geonosis, we were supposed to get behind enemy lines and plant explosives on the clankers transports, our cover was blown when one of my squad mates dropped a charge and we were swarmed I was the only one who made it out during our battle to the exit, so I was reassigned to Emerald squad."

" I'm sorry for your losses, i know how hard it is losing brothers, but why are you assigned to emerald squad and not a new Commando unit?"

" Well sir all of the other commando units have no need for an emotionally damaged Commando…"

" Ah, I see well brother welcome to your new family, Emerald squad, I know you will serve our battalion well!"

" I'll do my absolute best sir! "

"Good, now that we have that straightened out you and emerald squad will lead a platoon up on the western flank and capture a comms relay and disable it and then hold that position until further notice dismissed troopers!" I said.

I started to jog down the corridor to the hangar. As I took my first step in, it amazed me at how large it was, but it wasn't long until I started barking commands to direct the troops into the gun ships and giving personal commands to the commando and arc trooper units. They were the best of the best, seeing a Commando or Arc trooper work is one of the best experiences this war gave me and now I have one among my favored squad of troopers. It was like watching a bomb go off a plethora of times. One of those elite troopers was worth 50 regular grunts. There mission was to infiltrate the enemy fortress and assassinate the droid commander and the Arcs were to go in and cause as much chaos on the inside and knock out the comms so those rust buckets won't get anything through to their allied fleet above Felucia It was flawless, or so we thought. I got into my personal gun ship along with Klantus and Emerald Squadron the side doors closed and that dreadful red light flickered on. Silence was prominent in the transport. The gunship fired up and we took off along with 18 other haymakers.

It's always odd going from the vacuum of space to the ground below it's always too quiet for my liking. As I finally started to hear the engines of the Gunships I knew we had breached through the planet's atmosphere. The sound of 18 gunships was glorious i felt for the 137th enemies because when they saw what the 137th packed, it was like they were staring death right in the eye. " Commander! ETA 2 minutes until the dropzone sir! "Our pilot exclaimed." Alright bring her down smooth!" I said in a comical tone. "Alright boys load that plasma lets secure the perimeter and shoot any rust bucket on sight!" Every trooper in my ship yelled "YES SIR!" You could hear all of the firearms being primed and loaded, my men meant business. The gun ships finally touched the LZ, " alright men give me a sweep of this perimeter remember KOS!" General Klantus met up with me to go over our plan once more to create a diversion for our elite units to get behind enemy lines.

" Commander how was the ride down!" he said over the booming gunship engine noises.

" Good General how about yourself?!" I replied. " Oh I've always hated riding in those things too loud for my liking"

"But Sir how is the enemy know how afraid to be when they hear the incoming storm haha!"

"Indeed commander, you make a good point!" After our conversation me and Klantus made our way to the strategic command center or a crudely built platform with a few computers on it. The first thing I noticed was the clone i sa single handedly fight a hefty amount of bugs back on Geonosis, all I could do was stare and study him he was no regular clone, then again I hardly thought of him as a brother then, but that did change over time. " Ah tarrius its been too long my friend!" Klantus said excited. " Yes my boy indeed it has. Have you met commander Reaper" he replied. "No I can't say I've had the pleasure." Reaper just nodded didnt even salute or address him and general one of his many flaws I would say, but his skills make up for his lack of respect to other Jedi. Klastus introduced me to the both of them. " Tarrius, Reaper this is Commander Xanus"

"Good to meet you Commander!"

"LIkewise General"

Reaper replied "What's the matter Commander, I don't bite..." Luckily General Tarrius had a leash on reaper almost like he was a rabid dog and in some circumstances he acts like one. After that predicament we got down to planning this attack it went long into the night when we heard the screams of troopers outside. Myself and the others that were in the command tent rushed outside to see 3 humongous Acalay rushed out outer perimeter defenses. " Hold the line troopers!" I said as I let out a flurry of blaster fire into the creatures reaper beside me did the same. "Light those bugs up!" Our men lit those bugs up so much you couldn't recognize them as organic being afterwards, just green sludge and embers.

I commed into the general comm channel " Alright we break for the enemy positions in three hours Gentlemen!" I screamed into my communication relay. " Commander I have troubling news" Klantus said on the officer's comm channel. " What seems to be the problem General?" I replied curiously. "Reaper's patrol was captured , we have no idea who or what took them but all of these weapons were left behind, Commander we need Commander Reaper back we cannot assault the fortress without his abilities!"

"Yes sir I'll task my personal special unit Emerald Squad is on the job"

"Good commander I expect them back to the outpost as soon as possible"

"Understood General!"

" Yank, come in Yank!" I said to yank over comms. "What's the mission Commander im dying to blast some chrome domes!

"Gather Heat and Stag and take two gun ships I've pinpointed Commander Reapers position, he's been captured by someone or something, bring him back in one piece gentlemen."

" Yes Sir! "

 **Chapter 13: Designation… CC-6686 aka Reaper**

 **Breaking Point**

Nothing about this situation was good. I have no communications or any means of escape. This psychopath has been holding me here for quite some time and I've been starting to lose hope. What happen to this trooper to become so mentally unstable? Not only that how the hell did he get all the way out here? The guards have been constantly rotating, never the same one, even if I could get out there is an army of seven foot tall lizards I have to deal with. My only hope was to play the waiting game.

A few hours passed by and I started to hear someone making noise on the cell doors and whistling a old military song. I knew who it was from the spring in his step to the smell of fresh blood.

"And here ladies and gentlemen it is the mighty reaper himself. Tell me have you been enjoying your stay? I hope that you have been considering my offer? I can always use a man like you."

"Piss off, freak" I spat in his face.

"Now that was rude I'm afraid that we're going to have to teach you some manners. Vaas take care of him"

With a slither he replied: "My pleasure."

Karnage walked off to attend to other matters. Now I have this gigantic trandoshan to deal with. He put down his weapon at the front of the cell, he cracked his knuckles and his neck then started to move closer to me. Noticing the unguarded weapon a lightbulb went off. Unfortunately for this to work I need to take a couple of hits. I was grabbed by the collar and was given three jabs to the ribs. I started to cough up blood. I spit in his face and he threw me right where I wanted him to. When he cleared his eyes he was staring down the barrel of my blaster.

I popped a bolt right between his eyes and started to make my way to exit, but first I need my armor. I was blasting my way through all the hallways of the fortress. For a bunch of lizards I thought they would put up more of fight. I was eventually pinned down in the courtyard. The only option I saw was to go out guns a blazing. I hopped over the my cover to start putting heat into these oversized lizards one by one they were dropping they seemed. I heard a voice "Cease fire." All at once the shooting stopped

"Come now this is unnecessary, we're all friends here aren't we?"

"Where is my armor?!"

"Its right over there"

I turned around to see my armor being presented as a giant trophy. I was fueled with rage.

"Give me back my armor!"

"Um… no finders keepers and I found you so that shit is mine"

"You're gonna regret that."

"I don't think I am. Either join me or be gunned down on this blasted hole."

Out of nowhere two republic gunships started to close in on the courtyard.

"Take out those ships or it's your life, do not let him escape."

These green troopers gave me covering fire as I got into the ship. The one in charge of the operation wanted to go after karnage. I told him "no we need to get me back to the camp now i have urgent news to get to general Tarrius." I convinced him into retreating. We need time to plan this assault if we were going to kill this maniac.

We soon arrived at the camp. I jumped off and sprinted to the general.

"General we need to talk."

 **Chapter 14: Designation… CC-1148 aka Yank**

 **The 137th**

After I took those orders from the Commander we hurried to the gunships. "Alright Emerald Squadron let's show this insurgent what we're made of! GO GO GO!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Stag I want you on point you seem the most capable"

"You got it boss!" Stag loaded his DC-17m faster than you could say bantha.

The gunships hummed to life. The next thing I know is we're in the air hot on Commander Reapers trail. " Hey stag? " Heat said to stag.

"What Heat?!"

"Hehe, You ever thought how a Commander, especially one of the caliber of reaper was taken down by one lowly Insurgent?"

"Shut up Heat" Stag replied.

"Hey! Let's keep our eyes on the prize boys and Heat if Reaper ever finds out you said that he'll treat you like one of those very very unlucky Bugs."

" Y-Yes Lieutenant Yank…"

After heat stopped wise cracking we neared our LZ when we were ambushed by a bunch of trandoshans. Nasty creatures there said to rival wookies in ferocity and strength. "Pilot Put her down now!"

"Yes sir!"

As the gunships set down we fanned out and secured the perimeter and waiting for their attack. " Fan out I want you men to take defensive positions around the gun ships, Heat! Get the portable shields I want a wall formed ASAP troopers let's go, double time!"

" Yes Lieutenant!" We were a well oiled machine we wormed the wall and patiently waited for their first wave. We waited for a couple of hours, but soon enough they surely came. 20 maybe even 25 giant lizards came out of the tree line to bad we had a surprise waiting for those oversized reptilians. " Detonators Ready! Alright throw and give me a 4-5 tactical defensive maneuver!" The battle raged on all you could see was Red and blue streaks of light. We wasted those trandos with no time to spare they attacked with a second wave. " Wave two boys prime the detonators, throw now!" those little balls of fire melted those trandoshans. " Good work boys count the wounded and get back on those gunships, squads three and four sweep the perimeter make sure these monsters are all dead!"

"Yes sir!"

" Stag, what's your kill count brother?! " I said to Stag

" Seventeen Boss! " Replied Stag.

" That's what I like to hear! What about you hot head? " I said to Heat.

" Fourteen Sir! " Heat replied. " Oh it seems Stag beat you out this time "

" Yea well how many Walking lizards did you blast? "

" Twenty three Heat, better luck next time hot head " I Replied. " Alright Back on the gun ships We still have a mission to complete!"

"Yes Sir!" every one replied. The Gunships hummed to life again and we took off. It was about forty five standard minutes until we got to Commander Reapers last known position where we saw him duking it with another clone, but The commander was basically naked? " Sir! we are here to take you back to the base! " He sprinted over to us and we opened fire into the rest of the traitors pets. " Are you alright Sir?" he didn't say anything to anyone I just took that as a shut up and eyes front. Heh you gotta love Reaper a man of few words and a whole lot of action.

 **Chapter 15: Designation… CC-6686 aka Reaper**

 **The Jedi's Slave**

Me, Tarrius, Klantus, and Xanus went into a powered down gunship to talk about what had happened back in Karnage's bunker.

"Sir the leader of this little group of insurgents…. , well he is a clone"

Tarrius said "What do you mean commander."

"I mean he is an actual full blooded clone. Made on Kamino and everything. Only this one is the most defected one I have ever met before."

Klantus said to Tarrius "Tarrius look in the man's eyes he did something to him not physically, but commander Reaper here has seen some things."

Tarrius replied "I know, I felt something strange when he got back."

Xanus jokingly stated "I guess he is human after all."

I shoot him a glare and he too knew something was wrong. Tarrius kneeled down and put his hand on his shoulder. "What did they do to you?"

I looked back at the general and said. "They raised hell."

"We got him back." Klantus replied.

Once I explained to them the details of what I went through I asked to lead an attack on the fortress. They approved of mission and there was only one thing left to do: find some armor.

"I can't believe that the general ordered us to do recon on the fortress. Not to mention babysitting the new guy."

"Yeah I wanted to be blasting those overgrown lizards all the way back to their pathetic little hunting grounds on Trandosha.

All of a sudden there was rustling in the bushes.

"Jax did you hear that?"

"Yeah, you two go check it out."

Once the troopers checked out the area they gave the all clear. Then out of nowhere everyone was being dragged away in different directions. Once the troopers woke up they were in a holding cell. Jax heard the cell doors open. In the doorway he saw three figures. One was much smaller than the others he was with. It was without a doubt Karnage

"Well well well, strayed a little too far from home have we? Eh it doesn't matter. You will all soon be dead anyway so what's the use getting to know each other."

Jax was over run with fear. He pleaded "please don't kill us. Our generals will bargain for us."

Karnage responded "I doubt it my friend. Why waste resources buying a few useless soldiers like yourselves when they can just get knew ones to send to their deaths? At least I left your helmets on so you won't be embarrassed when you piss yourselves."

A Loud explosion could be heard along with blaster fire.

Karnage said "Shit. well what are you two doing here get your asses in gear and deal with our guests I can clean up here."

Karnage put his blaster on the little crate where the Trandoshans have been sitting. He then knelt down to Jax and started to beat him, almost to death. Over to the corner the shiny managed to get free and sucker punched karnage to the back of the head. The trooper picked up his blaster and pointed to Karnage's head.

Karnage said "Come on mate we can work this out."

The trooper replied "You're not getting away this time you psycho."

"Wait have we met before did I kill someone close to you?"

"Something like that."

The trooper lifted his helmet and revealed himself to be Reaper.

Karnage begged "Look we can work something out can we. What do you want? Money?...Women?...Drugs?. I can get you anything you want brother."

Reaper hit him with the blaster. "You have no right calling me that"

Karnage continue to beg. "Please let me go find the kindness in your heart."

Reaper smiled and grabbed him by the collar and took him to the kitchen. He lit a fire and put a strange piece of metal in the flames.

Karnage said "look I'm asking nicely, let me go. I let you escape and you're going to kill me. Some gratitude. You're no better than these Lizards blindly following their gods of hunting or whatever it's called. but you yourself blindly following the orders from those Jedi bastards Always telling you what to do aren't you tired of it I can offer you an escape."

Reaper walked over to the fire and picked up the piece of metal. Karnage began to grow nervous. He said " Come on I know you want to."

Reaper said "The trandoshans and there religion are strange, but at least you both have gods. You better start praying because I am your god now." Reaper jammed the scorching hot metal into the side of Karnage's face. The screams could've been easily heard from the courtyard.

Reaper brought Karnage to the courtyard in binders with a image of a skull burnt into the side of his face. Reaper handed him over to the general. No words were exchanged except a disappointing look from the general. Reaper threw his armor on the ground. And started to climb up the entrance to the bunker. He put on his old armor and proudly put his helmet back on. He jumped down and walked over to where they were keeping Karnage. He whispered into the door "Start praying." All that could be heard from the little room was a blood curdling scream. Only one thing clouded reapers mind "Are we just pawns to the jedi?"

 **Chapter 16: designation… CC-1147 aka Xanus**

 **Downfall**

After My boys and Reaper took care of that living scum "Karnage", I briefed them on the bigger picture the battle of Felucia. "Alright! After that distraction we still have work to do men!"

"Sir! If I may ask what will we do with the defective one?" Yank said. "He'll be put on a gunship headed for the Cruiser and put under lockdown and made an example of, now back to the matter at hand. This is a textbook Battle troopers. Emerald squad including myself will infiltrate the enemy stronghold and eat them from the inside out! The rest of you will be lead by the General on the frontlines and take it to the chrome domes. Alright dismissed and to your gunships gentlemen!" Most of the battalion rushed to the gunships to get read, but first i needed to talk to the General about the assault I had a bad feeling about it. "General" I saluted. "Is there a problem Xanus? I can feel your tension" the general replied

" Y-Yes Sir. I think that it won't turn out the way we hoped… Well what i mean is is there's something wrong with that Fortress something was off it almost looked like it was abandoned, In My opinion it's a trap."

"Then let's spring it Commander" He smirked.

"Yes sir…" I put my helmet on "good soldiers follow orders" I told myself. I hurried to Emerald squads Gunship it had a bright green Dragon and a skimpy twi'lek on the tongue of the dragon, it was a beast of a machine. I nodded at the general and he winked back. "Alright you boys ready to get in there and rough them up!" i said to encourage them. "You know it sir!" heat said for everyone the whole squad. The gunship hummed to life and the pilot said over the engines " Hello I'll be your pilot today, snacks are over on the left" he said jokingly. "Save it Jep" Stag replied. "Take it easy once in awhile Stag!"

"Save it and focus all of you! We all go home today!" I said in hopes of ending the conversation.

"Three minutes ladies!" Jep said over the comlink. "Keep those heads on a swivel boys everyone goes home today!" I said, but there was nothing but silence in the gunship. When we landed we rushed out to scan the perimeter for hostiles, yet there wasn't a single thing on the scanners. I knew there was something wrong with this place the first time I laid eyes on it back on the cruiser. "Yank and heat I need you two to take a full squad of shinies and take that left path me and Stag will take the right with the rest of the platoon" before I could finish giving the order two bright red blades ignite in the darkness on the end of the platform. I immediately tell my men to spread out and fire at will into the red blades. "General! There seems to be a jedi attacking us on the platform inside the enemy stronghold we need reinforcements now!"

" Commander we are occupied at the moment what's the color of the blade Xanus!?"

" Sir! They are red please send back up!"

"Ok… Commander tell your men to get ready to pull out"

"But sir we can take this guy we just need reinforcements!"

"That is an order Commander, pull out now!" Klantus said. This was no jedi I thought to myself this was something else entirely. The enemy spun in a graceful fashion slicing through everyone that was unlucky enough to not be on the gunship in time. I screamed into my comlink "Get to the gunship now men! The general is on his way to deal with this guy", but as we were taking off the jedi pulled us back into him and his red blade put out forwards. There was no way off except by jumping, me, yank,heat and Stag jumped off of the gunship while pouring blaster fire into the jedi, but even while pulling the gunship into his one blade cutting it into two he also deflected almost everything we threw at him while taking a dive. The jedi laughed " you really think we would just let you "clones" walk in here and blow everything we've built from the inside?!" he said. The jedi pulled one of his blades out, it seemed like he was using magic, he pulled one of the shinies right into his blade. "You are all weak!" the dark jedi said with unrelenting rage in his voice. "Is this all the republic has, Ha , I'm glad I left the jedi order because if this is all the grand army can supply then they sure to lose!" right as the jedi finished, four gunships raced over the wall with their distinct hum and unloaded the General and more Troopers than I cared to count. " looks like we've got you Scum! You're under arrest in the name of the galactic re." the jedi cut me off igniting his second blade and signaled. Out came from the darkness a volley of red blaster fire. "Droids!' I said opening fire taking three out. The General ignited his own blade and jumped into the heat of battle slicing through dozens of Clankers all while fighting the fallen jedi as he called it. After we scraped most of the droids the General had told us to carry our mission out while he kept the jedi busy. " Alright boys we've still got a job to do i'll take the left with yank, Stag take heat and what troopers we have left and plant the charges on the right!"

"Yes sir!" the rest of the men said sprinting to the objective. "All the charges have been planted sir!"

"Good now get back to the gunships we are leaving for good this time!" I replied to Heat. After we regrouped back at the gunships the General had dispatched the traitor. "What took you so long commander?" Klantus said. "Not all of us have special powers like you Jedi do sir" i said with a smirk on my face.

"Very well you got me there, I'll see you back at the outpost oh and please do tell the rest of the men fighting outside the stronghold it's time to head back"

"You got it sir!" I replied with vigor. First we had to make an exit i let heat do the honors of making that factory look like one big firework. "All forces retreat back to outpost beta" I said into our closed channel.

Back at the outpost the General explained what we encountered on the platform outside the Factory. " as you can see commander not all jedi are as faithful as others, what you and your men encountered in there was a fallen knight one of the many that have left the order in search of what they think is something greater than what the jedi order has to offer them" Klantus said with a concerned tone.

"Sounds like just bunch of rejects if you ask me"

"No Commander, just some who have lost their way, anyways get some sleep we continue our siege early tomorrow"

"Yes sir" I gladly replied.


End file.
